Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you. Like most things, it depends on what grant or loan you've applied for, whether or not you have dependents, but I can ask Mr. Saturnino to provide a concise description of what an average student might expect, in terms of support from SFA. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Saturnino.

Thank you, Mr. Saturnino. Member for Thebacha.

Madam Chair, I couldn't hear him. Could he just repeat that please, Madam Chair?

It's $850 a month.

Madam Chair, on $850 a month, that's for a single student. If you have one child or two children, could you please tell me what the daily amount is? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you. That's just the basic grant. There is also a repayable loan that individuals can apply for which is another, I believe, $1,400. In addition, there is up to $2,400 for tuition; there is $550 for books. There is more than just the $850, but I believe, if there was a dependent, it would be $1,250; the $850 would turn into $1,250. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Madam Chair. A student with one child, and yes, I know that some of the costs are covered with tuition and books and some of those things. Even in Fort Smith, which has one of the lowest costs of living in the Northwest Territories and I'm very proud of that, $1,250 a month with one child when childcare is $60 a day, that is unacceptable, Madam Chair. I would really appreciate that the Minister starts adjusting the budget to ensure that subsidized childcare for the future students of the polytechnic university are subsidized. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you. We had an extensive discussion about this in the House. I realize we have to do more to help some of the students that we have. As we transform to a polytechnic, that's one of the things we're looking at. If someone really is attending school, collecting SFA, and needs childcare and they qualify for income assistance, they can also apply for that. Income Assistance will help them out. To the Member's point, I understand that she is advocating for subsidized childcare for students, and we're trying to figure out how to get there. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Thebacha.

Madam Chair, that's $1,250 for the lowest cost of living in Fort Smith. I just wonder how much it is, how a student could survive on that in Yellowknife or the Beaufort, in those campuses. That is unacceptable, and subsidized childcare for the future polytechnic university students must be in this budget in the future. I think that it's time; the time has come. We talk about everything else. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Did you have any further comments, Minister?

Sure. We are doing a review of Student Financial Assistance, as well. It has been a number of years since those numbers changed. I believe it was 2015, the last time that there was an increase, and obviously costs have gone up. While we do this review, we're also looking at other things that might need to change. I'll just note that SFA is currently structured so that it covers about 80 percent of the cost of attending a post-secondary institution in Edmonton, so not necessarily in the North, where costs are higher. It is one of, if not the, most generous student financial assistance programs in Canada by a long shot. A lot of people in the South are quite jealous of what we have. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Did you have any further questions? Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Are there any further questions under the income security, Members? Seeing no further questions, please turn to page 45. Education, Culture and Employment, income security, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $60,336,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We will take a short recess, about 5 minutes.

---SHORT RECESS

Committee, we are back to order. All right, we are going to move on to labour development and advanced education, beginning on page 52. Questions? Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The line item I would like to start with is the apprenticeship and occupational certification line item. Can the Minister tell us if this is where the apprenticeship wage subsidy comes from? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.